Preface

PREFACE.

The original purpose of this volume was to furnish
the complete text of the so-called Register of the Grey
Friars of London in Cotton MS. Vitellius F. IX. But
the need for an Introduction dealing with their House
and its history has led to the accumulation of other
material so considerable as to make the adoption of a
wider title expedient.

I am under a great debt to Mr. A. G. Little for much
valuable advice and criticism, as well as for various
notes. Dr. Philip Norman has kindly supplied me with
some additional information as to the conduits and watersupply. To the courtesy of Dr. Norman Moore I owe
the valuable material derived from The Repertory Book
at St. Bartholomew's Hospital. To the article by the
late Mr. E. B. S. Shepherd on "The Church of the
Friars Minors in London," which appeared in The Archæological Journal in 1902, I must acknowledge a
special obligation; it is his expert piecing together of
the information contained in the first part of the Register
that has restored for us the ground-plan of the Church.
The skill with which Mr. H. W. Cribb has used the
material which I put before him has led to a remarkable restoration of the plan of a great part of the other
buildings.